I am an electrician and a firefighter in a small city in north central Ohio. We have no license or inspection required in this town or the the area around us. I have seen so much poor work and as a part time firefighter I also see it after it fails. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get a program of at least inspecting new installations and permitting started?

IMHO, you probably have to get an ally (allie?) within the state government to push for enacting a license requirement as a start, and then the permit process. A "local" politician that you can persuade to agree that controls are needed woule be a start. Petitions also help.

IT WILL NOT BE AN EASY TASK.

The permit process here in NJ involves, for a small town:1: Office Person, to process the permit paperwork.2: A team of inspectors, part or full time.3: A "plan review" person. (May be the inspector)

WE have inspectors for plumbing, electrical, building, fire, and elevators. Some areas have zoning inspectors also. ALL inspectors are State licensed, as are electrical & plumbing contractors.

I agree with John. You will need someone on the state level who will get laws passed in your state to license all electrical contractors, and to get qualified electrical inspectors out there to check on their work. It won't be easy, my friend has been trying for many years to get these laws passed in another state. Good Luck!

About 6 years ago the ISO and BOCA supposely did surveys of all building departments in the USA inspection proceedures and rated the quality of inspections.I understand, that if an area did "good" inspections, the insurance premiums could/were reduced for that particular area.

It might be worthwhile to contact the ISO Insurance Service Office http://www.iso.com/ and look through their site for further information.

If your area has high premium rates, possibly the town/city fathers may be interested in lowering the areas' premium rates, especially if the citizens are aware of the program.

I would not be suprised that some municipalities fathers' don't want this information spread around to the public.